Thursday, January 6, 2011

Jobs incentive unlikely to be salve for housing jobs - Business First of Columbus:

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A portion of the $787 billion governmenrt economic stimulus packagesigned Feb. 17 by President Barack Obama is designeed to dojust that, with an $8,0000 tax credit for first-timer home buyers who close deals this year. Builder and real estate agents normally woulcd be thrilled by the but after three years of fallinbg sales and an economy that keeps circlinggthe drain, some doubt it will be “My opinion of first-time buyers is that they’re more worriee about having a job in threwe months,” said Sam Calhoon, co-owner of in “I think if the credit was across the board, it would be a bettedr stimulus.
” The Senate had passecd a version of the stimulus package that many in real estat favored because it would have given a $15,000 tax credit to anyone buying a house in 2009. That proposa was eliminated in favor of theHousee version. “I think anything can help, but I think the $15,0009 (incentive) ... would have been a lot more saidScott Walker, owner of Westerville-based “It woulx have given people the motivationn to get off the Olympus builds single-family houses starting at and it hasn’t been getting much interesft from first-time buyers, Walker said.
He doubts the $8,000p credit will have a dramaticx effect on his Whatever thegovernment offers, the stimulus effort won’t bring back the industry halcyon days of 2005, said Harlet Rouda Jr., CEO of Columbus-based real estat agency , but it shoul make the market more secure and predictable. “In a normal market, this (the tax would create almost afeeding frenzy,” he “Because we’re in uniquer and difficult times, this is just goingy to be a stimulus to get us back on Unique and difficult times are exactl y why Calhoon and others in real estatd and construction favored the Senate proposal.
It’ s widely accepted, Calhoon said, that when someone buys a house, two othe major purchases – appliances and furniturwe – usually follow. That additional spending helps spur thelarger economy. But the oppositwe has been truesince 2006, when home buyintg started declining. Companies dependent on real estat startedeliminating employees. The state estimate that 1,600 fewer Ohioans worked in furniture and home furnishing shopds in 2008 than in while 1,600 fewer worked at buildinbg materials and garden supply Ohio jobs in the real rental and leasing industries also declined over the last three year by 2,800 jobs.
Calhoon thinkds that in an industry that explode d with real estate agents in the last decade amid thehousing run-up, a thinning of the rankws is helpful. “I know people that wouls rather havethe ( ) raise dues to get out the said Calhoon, a former presidentt of the organization. “When out in the real estates community, you’ll hear people say Columbusa doesn’t need 7,000 Realtors,” he The residential construction industry also hasbeen pruned. Preliminaryu estimates for 2008showed 14,300 constructionj jobs were eliminated in Ohio sinced 2005, while an estimated 3,100 Columbus-area construction jobs were lost in the same three-yeatr span.
Columbus-based , the region’s largesrt homebuilder, employed 1,118 workers in 2005, but only about 400 by the end of last The employee roster at Olympues was its largest in 2003 at22 staffers, Walker but today it is operating with five employees. “Wde would have to increase quite a bit to hiresomeone else,” he As tough as it is in other parts of the country have fared worse, and it’ws reflected in the mood of the industry.

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